A phone stopped being just a phone a long time ago
As the technology has developed we use these devices for far more than calls: we photograph with them, record things that matter, write notes and reminders, shoot video — and, of course, every contact we have lives on them. So when a handset suffers physical or logical damage and data is lost, it hurts more than most failures.
Familiar situations
- You deleted the photographs by accident
- The handset went into water and the contacts and holiday pictures went with it
- You connected it to a computer and a sync overwrote the data
- A software update wiped the contents
- It was dropped and no longer powers on
Logical versus physical damage
Logical damage means the hardware is sound but the data is not reachable: photographs and videos deleted by mistake, an update that removed data, material overwritten during a sync, or a deletion caused by malicious software. These are the cases with the strongest chance of success.
Physical damage means the device itself is harmed — it will not power on, it has been dropped or crushed, or it has suffered water damage and corrosion. Here the work is more involved, and sometimes has to be carried out at the level of the memory component itself.
What can be recovered
- Photographs
- Video
- Voice recordings
- Contacts and phone book
- SMS messages
- Notes and reminders
Recovered material is handed back on sound media — a portable drive or a disc — together with a list of what was actually retrieved.
What to do straight away
- Stop using the device — any further use risks overwriting the deleted data
- Do not perform a factory reset and do not update the software
- If the handset has been in water, do not try to power it on and do not charge it
- Do not install recovery apps from the store onto the device itself
An assessment before any quote
Before any work begins we assess the device to establish the type of damage and the realistic prospects, and only then give you a price. If it cannot be recovered, we will say so up front.